Anyone on the Quarry team (or contemplating being on the Quarry team) should not read this thread until the game is over.

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The Valley of Gad

You have chosen to be the Archveult, lord of the Valley of Gad. As you sit in the topmost turret of your castle which has been your home for three hundred years, you survey your kingdom secure in the knowledge that your sovereignty is unchallenged. You chose this valley carefully as a great ring of mountains separates it from the rest of Orb where other powerful men might have confronted you.

When you began your reign of terror after slaying the old king, your people renamed your home Castle Remorse. They fear and hate your evil ways. Your appearance alone is enough to terrify even the stoutest of heart. You are a Firedrake, one of the elder races of Orb that live north and east of the Mountains of Undying Solitude. But you are no ordinary Firedrake. You stand eight feet tall and your fierce head is topped by a bony spiked carapace like that of an ancient giant reptile. Your eyes are smoldering pits of fire. When you are angered they ignite, burning with a deep red flame that also bursts out over the blue scales of your body. You have large blue wings, but unlike your son the Demiveult, you cannot fly. You are more powerful than he, however, for you are an Archveult, a rare thing even amongst the powerful race of Firedrakes. The Firedrakes are a naturally cruel race but you have taken their lust for cruelty to the greatest lengths and are never happier than when demonstrating your superiority over your pathetic human subjects.

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The Hunt

It is spring and the month of Weir has just begun. At this time of year you indulge yourself in your favorite pastime, the annual hunt. Each year a slave is set free from the standing stones near the castle and hunted down like an animal. If found, the slave is torn to pieces by your Hounds of Hell, giant dogs with flaming breath which are from the nether planes and were a gift from a Demonlord. If the slave can escape the valley, you will have been cheated of your prey. But the slaves seldom escape.

This year you have bidden Kritos Bloodheart, your ally and only human friend to spare no effort in acquiring strong slaves who will run fast and far, giving good sport. He has scoured the slave pits of Upanishad for your prey and has brought three slaves back to the valley. You will mercilessly hunt down one of these slaves until at last, exhausted and broken, he (or she) will beg you to put an end to his wretched life. Turning from the window you see Kritos giving the order to present the slaves.

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The Slaves

Your quarry will be one of three possible types of slaves. Your opponent will choose which one and will inform you of his choice.

The Priest

The castle guards drag before you a slim young man, dressed only in a torn white robe and manacled. You allow flame to play over your body for effect as you sneer at this puny human.
'He looks weak,' you growl.
The young man, who has been gagged, makes a gurgling noise and Kritos cuffs him into silence.
'He is a priest, magnificence, he knows spells, he nearly escaped on the road from Upanishad. He speaks the Word of Helpless Palsy and has the Touch of Harm, and,' he chuckles, 'he has Avatar the One on his side.' There is a gale of laughter as he says this.
'Oh Avatar, where are you now, free thy servant from this evil place of torment,' you mock. There is silence in the chamber. 'Your god has deserted you,' you cry, and with that you clap your hands and he is dragged away. It pleases you that he holds his head high and there is a look of contempt in his eyes.

The Barbarian

The second slave is led before you. This one has his arms tied to a yoke, as if prepared for crucifixion, and is stripped to his loincloth. He is an enormous man, not much more than a foot shorter than you, heavily muscled but showing the bruises gained in an earlier attempt to escape. His blonde hair is wild like a horse's mane.
'I had to pay a small fortune for this one, magnificence. He was to be sent back north to become a gladiator in the Arena of Death at Mortavalon. He is the strongest man I have ever met and still barely more than a boy,' Kritos tells you proudly.
The young barbarian growls at you, he has overcome his fear. At a sign from Kritos, however, pressure is applied to the yoke and he is slowly forced to his knees, grunting all the while with the effort of trying to avoid abasing himself before you. You clap your hands once more and the barbarian is taken away.

The Thief

'I have saved the fairest till last, magnificence,' says Kritos.
Two guards enter the chamber and between them, chained to them both, is a young woman dressed like a man in leather breeches and shirt. There is a murmur of appreciation from the guards.
'It's a woman!' you exclaim. 'They are weaker than the men.'
Kritos does not look unduly troubled by your displeasure. 'Not this one, magnificence, she is a skilled swordswoman and, until she was delivered into our hands, was a master in the Thieves' Guild of Upanishad.'
You can tell from the reaction of the guards that she would be considered beautiful amongst humans, but you are more concerned with her powers of endurance. Unlike the two men, she is taking in every detail of her surroundings, watchful for a chance to escape, but Kritos has ensured there is none. The guards force her to her knees and invite her to beg for mercy, but she replies: 'It is you who will beg for mercy out in the wilderness, Firedrake.'
You smile and order her to be taken back to the dungeons, confident she will soon change her tune.

*

Your victims will find little help out in the valley for all know of the annual manhunt and few would dare to oppose you in any way. It took you forty years to subdue the whole of the valley to your rule and you have used fear to discourage revolt ever since. Almost everyone pays heavy taxes to your tax-house in the valley's city, Askelon, and your troops man the wall at the town of Gap which seals the western entrance to the valley. The monks and the wizard Callisto in his tower might dare to oppose you and there are strange beings in some of the forests, but you walk abroad in the valley without fear. Now that the slaves have been led away you are free to peruse the map that hangs in the topmost turret and to guess which way the hunt will twist and turn across the valley.

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Escape

Click here to see the hidden message (It might contain spoilers)

Your opponent will be trying to find a way out of the valley. Obviously you know much of the valley, but it is a large place and even you do not know it all.

Important points to remember:
1. Castle Remorse seals the eastern end and there is no escape for the quarry there.
2. The only exit known to your quarry is a large gate at the west entrance to the valley. This is close to Gap Town.
3. Gap Town is heavily guarded by your own troops which should make it difficult for the quarry to escape there.
4. There are three other exits, determined at the start of each game.

Click here to see the hidden message (It might contain spoilers)

There seems to be a mistake in the text, because the random table that determines possible exits always includes the gate near Gap Town as one of the three, so it should really be two other exits.
In this game, the exits are A (Gap Town gate), T (near the volcano), and P (near the Mines of Smelt).

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The Archveult's Allies

You have three allies or henchmen: Kritos Bloodheart, the Captain of your guard, a pleasantly evil and bloodthirsty warrior; Ka-riim, the Hashishin, your chief assassin; the Demiveult, a large winged reptile which some say is a Firedrake in its larval form, while others believe it is a product of your genetic experiments. He is actually your son, but can never become a full-fledged Archveult due to a druid's curse.

As soon as you start this game you will be given the opportunity to place these three allies in certain areas of the valley to wait in ambush, should the quarry pass that way. You can communicate with your allies through a crystal ball, which enables them to tell you when they have found the quarry. you will have the chance to move your allies as time passes. Remember to keep a record of how many wound levels each ally has lost - you will have the opportunity to heal only one of them.

Oh, they have substantially more flexibility in their deployment than that. To get a little ahead of myself for the sake of example, Kritos can be sent to: The Barrow Weald, the Jungle, the cataract at the gorge, the Moorland, the Wizard Callisto's tower, or the wall at Gap town._________________"Now that we've determined that up to π angels can dance on the head of a pin, how do we determine the specific number (or fraction) of angels dancing?"
"What if angels from another pin engage them in melee combat?"

You have ordered the slave to be tied to one of the standing stones to the west of the castle. The bodies of previous victims adorn the stones. At dawn your quarry will be set free.

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It is dawn, the magical chains which have held your captive against cold stone all night long will be fracturing now. Your court magician casts a spell and you speak words which your quarry will hear as if the stone itself was talking. 'Run, run for all you are worth, you cannot escape me and my Hounds of Hell. You have a few hours' grace before I take up the chase.'

You will not be idle during these next few hours, however, there is much to be done. You have to decide where to station your allies, Kritos Bloodheart, Ka-riim your assassin, and the Demiveult. A man-servant coughs discreetly, reminding you that you must decide where to set your mantraps and send messages via crystal ball to your servants in the valley.

WAIT

The quarry has already encountered a WAIT, so we proceed immediately.

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You turn to your map of the valley. In past years you have used trap in nine different places. This year you have decided to order five mantraps of various types placed at strategic points in the valley. These traps are designed to wound and delay rather than kill. The nine possible locations are as follows

• The bridge at the cataract.
• The road from the Barrow Weald to the mountain pass.
• The route into the jungle.
• The Misty Wood, southwest corner.
• The Moorland near the misty wood.
• The entrance to the Mines of Smelt.
• The track in the icy wastes.
• The Volcano.
• The town of Gap, at the wall.

When you have chosen five locations you can relax, secure in the knowledge that your minions will set the traps.

WAIT

When it comes to the traps, it's probably easiest if each player just ranks all of the locations by preference and I'll compromise the lists together. The Quarry has also hit their second WAIT, and there are no branching paths yet, so...

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You decide also to equip one of your allies with a healing balm. Will you give it to your trusted henchman, Kritos Bloodheart who is resplendent in black armor with a scarlet plume atop his helm and impatient to begin; to Ka-riim the Hashishin, your accomplished assassin; or toyour own son the Demiveult who is far larger than you, like a great flying reptile with his fierce beak, yet no more powerful than you. You may use the balm to restore all the wound levels of the chosen ally, once only.

Yes, it's one per._________________"Now that we've determined that up to π angels can dance on the head of a pin, how do we determine the specific number (or fraction) of angels dancing?"
"What if angels from another pin engage them in melee combat?"

I suggest we place him at the Barrow Weald._________________-The Reverend Sir Professor Darth Rabbitt

Click here to see the hidden message (It might contain spoilers)

OgreBattle wrote:

The Den is about the equivalent of an S&M fetish. The Den's favorite way of jerking it is to have hurr durr arguments that run on for dozens of pages. Some of it raise interesting points, but most of it is just slinging cum on the walls. Like strangulation to get an erection, being a huge [EDITED] gets you off even stronger. Occasionally Frank struts out in intimidating 12" stiletto thigh highs, a thick, fearsome whip (which is a situational weapon choice, by the way) taut in his firm grip, and you put on your gimp suits, anticipating the lashing of his sharp tongue with a perverse quiver.

FrankTrollman wrote:

Victorian Racism is like level 2 evolved racism. You have to get your racism up to a certain level and then trade it while holding a dark stone to get your racism to turn into Victorian Racism.

I'd be slightly more in favor of the Forest since it's very close to two of the exits, and only somewhat more distant from the third. It's also very close to the Monastery so it sort of covers that as well. Monastery is my second choice though._________________-The Reverend Sir Professor Darth Rabbitt

Click here to see the hidden message (It might contain spoilers)

OgreBattle wrote:

The Den is about the equivalent of an S&M fetish. The Den's favorite way of jerking it is to have hurr durr arguments that run on for dozens of pages. Some of it raise interesting points, but most of it is just slinging cum on the walls. Like strangulation to get an erection, being a huge [EDITED] gets you off even stronger. Occasionally Frank struts out in intimidating 12" stiletto thigh highs, a thick, fearsome whip (which is a situational weapon choice, by the way) taut in his firm grip, and you put on your gimp suits, anticipating the lashing of his sharp tongue with a perverse quiver.

FrankTrollman wrote:

Victorian Racism is like level 2 evolved racism. You have to get your racism up to a certain level and then trade it while holding a dark stone to get your racism to turn into Victorian Racism.

The allotted time is up and you ride to the standing stones, the Hounds of Hell yapping at the horse's heels. A grisly exhibition of trophies adorns the monoliths, the heads of your previous victims. The more recent have been crudely embalmed. One of last year's victims was the young sorceress, Noquila, you growl in annoyance at the sight of her, her spells had been love spells, she was powerless against you and poor sport. Next to her is the body of the big barbarian Torvald Bloodaxe, his plaits still swinging in the wind, his face a mask of agony. He had been good sport.

The stones are on a conical hill-top. Behind you the dark towers of Castle Remorse deter all attempts at escape to the east. A track leads north towards high ground and a road of beaten earth winds south towards the hills of the Barrow Weald. To the west lies the rising swell of the rough moor. The hounds are confused, for some reason they find it difficult to tell in which direction your quarry set off. Sorcery is at work. Someone has tried to thwart you by aiding the quarry.

WAIT

• Head due west across the moor?
• Take the road south?
• Take the track north?

Sorcery? Perfidy! Infamy! TREACHERY!

edit: 7 WAITs have passed, and it is approximately noon in Gad.

Last edited by angelfromanotherpin on Sun Mar 13, 2016 7:35 am; edited 1 time in total

The Den is about the equivalent of an S&M fetish. The Den's favorite way of jerking it is to have hurr durr arguments that run on for dozens of pages. Some of it raise interesting points, but most of it is just slinging cum on the walls. Like strangulation to get an erection, being a huge [EDITED] gets you off even stronger. Occasionally Frank struts out in intimidating 12" stiletto thigh highs, a thick, fearsome whip (which is a situational weapon choice, by the way) taut in his firm grip, and you put on your gimp suits, anticipating the lashing of his sharp tongue with a perverse quiver.

FrankTrollman wrote:

Victorian Racism is like level 2 evolved racism. You have to get your racism up to a certain level and then trade it while holding a dark stone to get your racism to turn into Victorian Racism.

So, this is kind of a difficult point for me. When the quarry trips one of your traps, they tell you to cross off the corresponding code. But I don't think you're really supposed to remember which code corresponds to which location (especially not the first time you play). So I'm just going to tell you that one of your traps has been set off.

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You know every inch of this rough inhospitable moorland and your horse and hounds can cross it more quickly than can your quarry. The bracken and moss underfoot are spongy and wet.

(Your opponent has left no tracks here.)

There is no sign of your quarry having come this way as the hounds find no scent and there is little chance of hiding in the rocky moorland. Your horse occasionally sinks into the mire but you are not delayed.

WAIT

• Search the moorland?
• Ride down into a gully in the west which you know to be a dead end?
• Climb the spur to the west?
• Go to the north, to the track which leads from the standing stones to the cataract and on to the accursed monastery?
• Go south to the path of beaten earth that crosses the Barrow Weald?

The trap closest to the Standing Stones is the one on the cataract, so I consider it likely it was the one that was set off, and suggest we head in that direction to close in on our quarry._________________-The Reverend Sir Professor Darth Rabbitt

Click here to see the hidden message (It might contain spoilers)

OgreBattle wrote:

The Den is about the equivalent of an S&M fetish. The Den's favorite way of jerking it is to have hurr durr arguments that run on for dozens of pages. Some of it raise interesting points, but most of it is just slinging cum on the walls. Like strangulation to get an erection, being a huge [EDITED] gets you off even stronger. Occasionally Frank struts out in intimidating 12" stiletto thigh highs, a thick, fearsome whip (which is a situational weapon choice, by the way) taut in his firm grip, and you put on your gimp suits, anticipating the lashing of his sharp tongue with a perverse quiver.

FrankTrollman wrote:

Victorian Racism is like level 2 evolved racism. You have to get your racism up to a certain level and then trade it while holding a dark stone to get your racism to turn into Victorian Racism.